


A study In Rainbow

by Ineffable_Hannigram



Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: F/F, First Kiss, First Meetings, Fluff, Gay Hannibal, M/M, pride fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-20
Updated: 2020-06-20
Packaged: 2021-03-03 22:26:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,494
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24823051
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ineffable_Hannigram/pseuds/Ineffable_Hannigram
Relationships: Alana Bloom/Margot Verger, Jimmy Price/Brian Zeller, Will Graham/Hannibal Lecter
Comments: 3
Kudos: 49





	A study In Rainbow

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Murdersfriesandgayguys](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Murdersfriesandgayguys/gifts).



It was the anniversary marking the day they first met; although they did celebrate their wedding anniversary, they both agreed that this date was much more important. Will remembers exactly how and when they met, and as he sits across the table from his husband of fourteen years, he allows his mind to wander.

It was the 15th of June, smack bang in the middle of pride month and Will was attending a pride parade in Baltimore. It was the biggest one close to where he lived. He was with his three only friends. Beverly, who is Bisexual, along with Jimmy and Brian who had been dating for almost a whole year now. Will was straight but he was proud to call himself an ally. He never understood people’s hate towards LGBT+ people and felt as if he had a duty to fight along their sides. Although Will wasn’t a fan of crowds, these parades were filled with so much life that he hardly noticed the vast amount of people. So here Will stood, armed with just his rucksack and chalk paint, with Beverly in her flag tied around her waist while the two other boys wear theirs as capes. The three all have rainbow paint on their cheeks while Will opted out. Compared to literally the whole parade, Will looks very out of place. As the crowd walked down the road to the next point where tiny stools were set up, the four of them were all shouting and laughing, seeing others alight with joy.

They come up to a stop in a clearing, find a spot near a grass bank.

“Once again, this has been awesome. Shame about the religious protesters though; Jesus was probably a babe.” Beverly laughs, bumping her shoulder against Will’s. But Will wasn’t paying attention, instead his eyes were locked on the stranger sat perched on a wall, legs crossed at the knees. He was beautiful. Like Brian and Jimmy, his rainbow flag was wrapped around his shoulders and yet he pulled it of in a way that didn’t look silly in the slightest. His hair was a dirty blonde, somewhat long and pushed back into a neatly gelled style. He was good-looking, from the back at least, subtle muscle shifting as he laughed with a small crowd in front of him. Will’s not sure why this one boy had caught his attention after so long of not being attracted to the same gender but he did and he was stunning. Will feels a stirring between his legs and he rolls his eyes. _Not now boner._ He subtly crosses his legs and groans in annoyance. A hand waves in front of his face and he’s pulled out of his trance. He looks towards Beverly and he is greeted with an amused face and raised eyebrow, Brian and Jimmy giggling in the background.

“Whatcha looking at, Graham?” She looks in the direction he was transfixed with and laughs, clapping a hand against his back.

“I thought you didn’t swing that way, Will?!” Will rolls his eyes.

“If you don’t want him, I’ll have him” Brian jokes, earning a glare from Jimmy.

“Rude.” He says quietly.

But Will didn’t listen to him.

“Shut up!” He shouts, face burning pink. His shout earns a few looks from the people around them, including the boy sat on the wall. When he turns around Will almost collapses, his heart clenching in his chest. This stranger was truly a prince, there were no other explanations. There were neatly draw rainbow streak on either cheek, while rainbow eye-shadow surrounded his seemingly infinite eyes. His mouth was drawn into a little, cute pout and a next to non-existent eyebrow was raised in their direction. Will dips his head in embarrassment and the three traitors laugh.

“Oh, Will look! He’s coming over.” Jimmy snorts.

Before Will can say anything, the stranger is stood right in front of them. And all stand up to greet him.

“Hi handsome” Beverly. “Hi” Jimmy and a nod from Brian.

Beverly kicks him in the side and Will shoots to his feet with a strangled “Hello”

The stranger smiles and holds out a hand to shake.

“Good afternoon, I’m Hannibal, may I ask for your names, also?”

Beverly jumps right in,

“I’m Beverly but people just call me Beverly. This is Jimmy and his boyfriend Brian. And this” she claps a hand onto either of Will’s shoulders, “Is William.”

“It’s just Will.” He corrects.

“Well, nice to meet you Just Will.” Hannibal grins at his own joke and the three release a groan.

“My god, you’re one of those people.” Beverly sighs and Hannibal ducks his head.

Will just stares, finding his uneven teeth endearing and if possible, it makes him look even more beautiful.

“You’re pretty.” Will blurts out and Hannibal looks taken back for a second.

“Um, I ,er. Sorry, It just slipped out.” Will rambles.

“Thank you, and don’t apologise. You are quite dashing yourself.” Hannibal smiles, “And if you don’t mind my saying, you are quite lacking in colour. I can help you with that if you like?” Hannibal reaches into his pocket as Will starts making excuses.

“No, it’s okay. You don’t need to.”

“Nonsense, Will.” He says, reaching out to gently grasp Will’s jaw. He brings up a small white container containing rainbow face paint and carefully runs it over Will’s cheeks, creating two little rainbow hearts. The gentle grip he has on Will’s jaw sends a shiver down Will’s spine and he sighs, closing his eyes briefly. Only for them to fly open again when Beverly laughs and Hannibal announces his finish.

“There we go. Looking very Prideful.” And yet, Hannibal doesn’t remove his hand, instead his thumb begins smoothing tiny circles on his cheekbone. From up close, Will notices that Hannibal is slightly smaller than he is but doesn’t doubt that he is any younger than him; he radiates a certain maturity. Although he still has puppy fat, his cheek bones are very prominent; looking as if they could cut glass. He’s a wiry looking person, thin arms ending in thinner wrists and ending with bony hands but the hidden strength is obvious to Will. _Probably a dancer or gymnast._ Will thinks. They’re still stood less than a foot away from each other and lost within each other’s eyes when someone clear their throat. They both jump away from each other, looking down bashfully.

“Jeez, Will. For someone who was so adamant that they were straight, that was pretty gay.” Brian snickers, bumping shoulders with his boyfriend.

“Shut it, Zeller.” He mumbles, kicking stones with his foot.

“We weren’t judging, Will. We’re proud.” Beverly reassures with a gentle smile.

“You’re straight?” Hannibal asks, mouth pulled into that pout again and Will winces. _Thanks Zeller, now you’ve made it weird._

“Yes. No. I do- Listen Hannibal, I really thought I was. Until I saw you and I felt so overcome with emotion by looking at you alone. This is all new to me.” Will rubs the back of his neck as Hannibal stands stunned for a second. And then he does the unexpected, he’s quick to lean in and clasp either side of Will’s jaw in his soft palms and places his lips against Will’s in a gentle kiss. Will stands shocked and Hannibal pauses, backing away while apologising.

“I- I apologise Will. I fear that I’ve made this whole thing awkward. I’ll le-” His reasoning is cut short as Will grabs him by the wrist and pulls him back into a, admittedly more aggressive, kiss. Will can hear people around them cheering but they all fade out when Hannibal releases a small sound into his mouth. When they pull away, Will’s lips feel wet and tender and going by how pink and swollen Hannibal’s look; Will guesses his are the same. Will smiles and Hannibal looks down shyly. Jimmy and Brian are whooping while Beverly walks up to him and hugs him from his side, picking him up slightly.

“God, Will! I’m so happy for you!” She squeals in his ear, and despite how it makes his head ring, he releases a laugh to. Hannibal is looking up at him and his eyes are so full of emotion that they cause Will’s stomach to knot.

 _I’m 17, lost my virginity at 16 and have never felt this strongly for someone. Is this what it feels like to feel love?_ Will thinks, still staring at Hannibal.

They spend the almost all day together, along with Will’s trio, just laughing and cheering with the crowd. Hannibal explains how he had originally come with his two girl friends, Alana and Margot, but they left earlier because Margot’s homophobic dad got wind of their whereabouts and Hannibal was left to his own devises. It came up until half five when Hannibal had to leave to collect his little sister, Mischa, who was left with a neighbour while Hannibal attended this event.

They stood at the edge of a car park, next to a coach stop. Hannibal reached into his pocket and Will expected him to bring out the face paint again, but instead he brought out a pen and gestured for Will to hold out his arm. He wrote something but Will wasn’t paying attention. Instead he was watching the back of Hannibal’s head, looking at the soft, tricolour hair overlapping on his scalp. Before he can decide on the most prominent colour was, Hannibal stands up, pocketing the pen with a smile on his face.

“I need to go.” He says, nodding in the direction of the coach that had just pulled up.

“I- yeah okay.” Will sighs, suddenly feeling lost. Hannibal gives a soft laugh.

“There is no need to threat, Will. We will hear from each other soon.”

Hannibal leans in close and pecks Will on the cheek before he’s turning to jog to the coach. Will is sure he can hear him giggling the whole way, his cape waving after him. Will stands and waits until the coach leaves and he waves as Hannibal’s window passes above him. He laughs when he sees the other blow a kiss at him and makes an exaggerated show at catching it and holding it to his heart.

Will remembers when he had gotten home, his heart still beating at a rabbit’s pace. After 3 years and multiple pride festivals he never expected to be questioning his sexuality. It scared him a little if he was being honest. _He lost his virginity to a woman, for god’s sake._ He knew it wasn’t a bad thing that he turned out to be a little gay but it was still a big thing to get his head around after eleven years of thinking he was only into girls. While he contemplates all this, he climbs in the shower. _Despite the fact that he never starts the parade with glitter, he always ends up covered in the stuff._ As the water pours over him, he looks down and smiles; still written on his arm is the phone number of the boy that had changed his life, it was written in a neon pink sharpie and signed off with a ‘H.L <3’. He almost doesn’t want to wash it off but he knows it will raise questions from his Father. Not that he was homophobic, he wasn’t in the slightest, Will just wanted to explore this ‘new’ part of himself on his own for a while. He climbs out of the shower and the numbers are still faintly present but not so clear that you could see them unless you were actively looking. Will looks around his sparse bedroom for his phone and finds it in a pile of his clothes, he opens it an adds Hannibal’s number to his contacts. He remembers how giddy he felt while doing it, like this was a just his secret.

**_Will, 20:05_ ** _Hi, it’s Will. Hope I’m not disturbing you?_

**_Han, 20:06_ ** _Not at all. I was putting Mischa down for the night. How are you?_

**_Will, 20:06_ ** _I’m good. You?_

**_Han, 20:07_ ** _Better now you’ve texted. I was afraid that you wouldn’t want to._

**_Will, 20:07_ ** _Why wouldn’t I?_

**_Han, 20:07_ ** _I feared that you would think what happened between us was a mistake._

**_Will, 20:08_ ** _No definitely not. It’s the best thing that has happened to me. I swear._

Will’s attention is pulled away from the phone when he hears his dad calling about dinner. He looks down at the new text from Hannibal.

**_Han, 20:10_ ** _I am compelled to agree. It has been a while since anything truly good has happened to me._

Will stares at the text unsure of how to reply. But he feels as if it doesn’t really need one. Instead he texts about how he needs to eat and that they’ll talk later.

And they did. A month in, Will’s dad found out and invited Hannibal around for dinner where Hannibal explained what is was like being a parent for his younger sister ever since their actual parents had died in a fire. One and half moths in, Will met Mischa and they were thick as thieves. Mischa was enamoured by Will and followed him everywhere. Hannibal would joke about how he would need to fight her for Will’s love, but Will knew that he was secretly ecstatic that his little sister loved Will just as much as he did. After five years, they had moved in together with Mischa. After six years, Will was twenty-three years old, Hannibal just turned twenty-four. Will had been in the police force for two years and Hannibal had just begun work as a qualified surgeon. After ten years, Will proposes to Hannibal and the get married in April the next year; both Will and Hannibal were twenty-seven. After thirteen years, Mischa had moved out at twenty-three, Hannibal had moped for a while until Will brought home their first dog; he was a six-month-old Saluki, they named him Charlie. Four years later, Will left the forces after a scare when he was stabbed, he was now working as a professor for the FBI and doing part time investigation wok for Jack Crawford. At thirty-six, Hannibal retired as a surgeon and became a psychiatrist.

* * *

“Will?” Hannibal asks. Will blinks and shakes his head, Hannibal is staring at him with a smile pulling at his mouth.

“Yeah?”

“Where did you go?” Hannibal asks

“Nowhere, I was just thinking. Do you remember when we first met?” _Of course, he does._

“Of course, I do. Happiest day of my life” Hannibal responds, standing up from his chair to round the table and placing a kiss against Will’s cheek. Charlie slowly follows after him; he’s so old now. Will stays sat for a while, then he stands up with a grin and follows his husband to bed.


End file.
